WFTV (Orlando,
Florida) 04 January 05
Photo at URL below: Todd Hardwick, right, from Pesky Critters, along with
officers from Fish and Wildlife and a crew of firefighters remove a large
alligator from Wagner Creek alongside Cedars Medical Center.
Miami: A 12-foot alligator weighing more than 400
pounds and described as among the largest ever caught near downtown Miami
was hoisted from a creek Monday by a firetruck.
The alligator was discovered in Wagner Creek, about 16
miles from the Everglades, in the shadows of two major hospital complexes
and around the corner from the Veteran's Affairs Medical Center, a court
house, a county jail and government office buildings.
It was "about the last place you'd expect to see an
alligator of any size," said licensed trapper Todd Hardwick. Alligators are
much more common in suburban canals and lakes.
Hardwick and others wrapped a rope around the middle of
the gator and attached the other end to a ladder fire truck, which hoisted
the reptile out of the water, over a 4-foot fence and a row of parked cars.
Then Hardwick and two wildlife officers sat on the
gator while an assistant secured its jaws shut with duct tape. "He used the
entire roll," Hardwick said.
The spectacle attracted a crowd of more than 200 and
forced the city to temporarily close the street, he said.
The alligator likely swam downtown years ago, when it
was smaller, and lived the canal system draining the Miami Civic Center,
emerging only to snatch raccoons and opossums from the bank, Hardwick said.
But most of the food was delivered straight to the
gator. Hardwick said the reptile likely grew fat on carcasses of animals
tossed into the creek as religious sacrifices.
"They farm-raised this big boy on Santeria and voodoo,"
Hardwick said.
Under Florida law, the alligator cannot be returned to the wild because it
might try to return to the same canal. Because of its size, Hardwick said he
will try to find a farm, zoo or other facility to keep it in captivity.
Otherwise, the gator will be destroyed.
Firetruck Used To Pull 400-Pound Alligator From Florida Creek